This disclosure relates to a weatherstrip or weatherseal mounting or retaining structure and, more particularly, to a retainer assembly for securing weatherseals to an associated vehicle body.
Existing retainers mount glass edge seals along peripheral portions of an opening in a vehicle body, for example, about the periphery of a door window opening. These retainers are preferably one-piece and eliminate distinctive joint lines where separate components of the retainer meet. U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,849 discloses, for example, a retainer which comprises (i) a show portion that extends from a generally planar first base portion, and (ii) a leg portion that extends from a generally planar second base portion which are fused together along the base portions into a one-piece retainer that forms a cavity dimensioned to receive and retain a weatherseal in the cavity. The generally planar base portions overlap and receive fasteners that extend through spatially aligned openings. The fasteners pass through the aligned openings in the retainer and into corresponding openings formed in the vehicle body to secure the retainer thereto.
While an improvement over earlier retainer assemblies, these existing one-piece retainers have undesired restrictions and limitations. For example, specialized tooling is required to fusion bond or ultrasonically weld together regions on the overlapping surfaces of the first and second base portions. This adds cost associated with the inclusion of heat staking equipment in the manufacturing line. Moreover, the fusion bond process necessarily requires the first and second base portions to be formed of similar materials. This limits the variability and potential end uses of the retainer.
Thus, although this one-piece retainer has been commercially successful and provides certain advantages over prior arrangements, there is still a need to reduce cost of manufacture, reduce cost of assembly, ease installation, and expand use of dissimilar materials in forming the retainer.